1. Statement of the Technical Field
The inventive arrangements relate generally to support brackets, and more particularly to a video display unit support bracket that facilitates greater integration of TV, internet, gaming, and computer peripheral devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
Given the inherent discomfort and inconvenience of being admitted to a hospital as a patient, medical institutions have sought to raise the level of comfort in modern day hospital patient rooms. By ameliorating the living conditions of a patient, it has been shown that patient recovery times can be shortened. Moreover, hospitals have recognized the difficulties that patients endure when making the transition from a flexible home/work setting to a more restrictive hospital setting. For these reasons, several technological amenities have been added to a patient's room to improve the quality of a patient's stay.
One of these amenities has included the incorporation of a video monitor within a hospital room. A typical patient room video monitor is attached to an adjustable arm, which is in turn mounted to a wall bracket. The adjustable arm-bracket configuration facilitates the frequent re-positioning of the video monitor while occupying less of a patient room's limited ground space. Video monitors advantageously offer patients several possibilities for multimedia uses. For example, video monitors can be used for the transmission of cable television feeds. In addition, with the rising popularity of the Internet, patients can access their email, web browse, or perform basic personal computing from the convenience of their own hospital bed. Similarly, the video monitor can also serve as medium with which to play video games. All these technologies provide entertainment and productivity solutions for thousands of patients.
However, several problems currently exist with the installation of these technological amenities in a patient's room. In order to provide various television, gaming, and computing functionalities, separate enclosures have had to be provided for housing the various electronic devices. As a result of these separate enclosures, additional cabling has been needed be run between the various electronics and the video monitor. The need for additional cabling can create a potential safety hazard since a patient, visitor, or medical worker may run the risk of tripping over these various cables. Aside from additional cabling, this practice has also required the installation of additional power outlets to drive the various electronic components. Another problem with current patient rooms is the inability to remotely identify the various electronic components from a centralized server.
For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for an improved video display support bracket that can integrate peripheral devices such as a video monitor, television controls, computer keyboard, mouse, and game controllers. Moreover, the improved bracket should reduce the hazard, need, and expense in installing additional cabling and power outlets for a patient's room.